Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier versions have a 2GB size limit on PST (Personal Folder) files. Once a PST file exceeds the permissible 2GB limit, it becomes unusable and corrupt. Moreover, PST corruption leads to Outlook exhibiting peculiar behavior. In many instances, you cannot access e-mails, contacts and other information stored in Outlook. To get rid of such issues with your PST file, it is necessary that you take suitable measures like using the 2GB truncation utility, followed by running the Inbox Repair Tool. However, if you want to go for a secure way to Repair PST file, then you must opt for a third-party pst repair software. These applications are designed to fix corrupt PST files, irrespective of the reason behind corruption.

Consider a scenario, wherein, you are using Outlook 2002 as your official e-mail client. One fine morning you open Outlook or try to open the PST file to send few important meeting invitations and e-mails, you may receive the following error message:

"Errors have been detected in the file <file_path>. Quit all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox Repair Tool."

In the above error message, the file path refers to the location of the PST file. If you try address the problem by using the Inbox Repair Tool, it doesn't help you.

Cause

The error can be experienced when a PST file exceeds the size limit of 2GB and becomes corrupt. Since the Inbox Repair cannot resolve this problem, you have to switch to accurate outlook pst recovery steps, which are described in the 'Resolution' part of this article.

Resolution

To fix the problem with the PST file, you must execute the following pst repair steps:

Download and use the 2GB truncation utility. The tool gives you a new copy of the PST file after truncating it between 20 to 25 MB. Now run the Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) on the truncated copy of the PST file After using the above-mentioned tools, you can open the repaired PST file in Outlook

The 2Gb truncation tool has its own drawbacks. Firstly, you should have 2GB of free hard disk space in order to use this utility. Secondly, the application truncates a user-defined amount of data from the PST file which means you receive a smaller PST file which will not contain few messages or information.

There is a better and secure way to repair your corrupt PST files and that is employing a third-party software like Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair. The easy-to-use application repairs and recovers all components of a corrupt PST file efficiently. This Outlook PST repair application is compatible with Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000.